Dargaville community protests court closure

A community
demonstration to protest against the closure of the local
court will take place on Monday 10 December at 12.15pm
outside the court house in Dargaville.

Local JP, Rod
Sudlow, says the demonstration will express the
community’s concern about the closing of the court house
and using the facility as a hearing centre only.

“This
is not about savings to the rate payer. This is a measure
which is supposed to improve access to justice but locally
we cannot see how that will happen,” he says.

Mr Sudlow
says the costs will be shifted to police, JPs and the
community.

“It seems everyone but the courts know that
you cannot rely solely on call centres and the internet.”

Graeme Ramsey, Kaipara’s representative on the
Northland Regional Council, says the closure of the court
house represents ‘death by a thousand cuts for rural New
Zealand’.

“This signals the eventual removal of court
services completely from our community. We want justice to
be present in our town not just punishment. We don’t want
to see the ongoing withdrawal of services from rural
communities such as ours,” he says.

The community will
present a 1,000 signature petition to be taken to Wellington
for tabling in
Parliament.

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